Improvement in tops for oil-cams



M. FOWLER;

improvement in Tops for Oil-Cans &c.

No, 131,748, Patented 0ct.-1, 1872.

: NITED S'r'rEs MERWIN FOWLER, OF 'MERIDEN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO EDWARD MILLER 86 CO., OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN TOPS FOR OIL-CANS, &c.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 131,748, dated October 1, 1872.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it knownthat I, MERWIN FOWLER, of Meriden, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new Improvement in Can-Tops; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawing and the letters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawing constitutes part of this specification, andrepresents, in-- Figure 1, a side view of a can-top closed, and in Fig. 2 a side view, illustrating the manner of opening.

Thisinvention relates to an improvement in the tops of oil and other cans which it is desirable to close tight and yet allow a convenient manner of filling, especially adapted for cans to contain hydrocarbons, such as are used for burning in lamps; and the invention consists in a top constructed with a downward-projecting lug upon opposite sides, through a slit in which a rivet or other projection passes into the neck, one portion of the slit being vertical to allow the raising of the cap, the other portion transverse and slightlyinclined, so that, when the cap is pressed down onto the top, the

. cap may be turned on to the rivet or projection,

the incline tending to draw the cap hard down upon the top, as more fully hereinafter described.

A is the can-top, which is constructed so as to be attached to the can in the usual manner;

B, the cap fitted to set down onto and close the neck A. Upon opposite sides of the cap B a downward-projecting lug, C, is formed, having a vertical slot, 0, combined with a transverse slot, d, and through this slot projects from the neck a rivetor other suitable device, b, allowing the cap to be moved freely'up and down on the said projection, and the vertical slot ol such length. that when raised, as denoted in Fig. 2, the cap may be turned to the right or left, as denoted in broken lines, to open the top. The slot 01 is slightly inclinedupward, as denoted in Fig. 2, so that when the cap is set down, by turning the cap, this inclined slot (1 passes on to the projection, drawing the cap hard down upon the neck, as denoted in Fig. 1. By preference, I line the inside of the cap with cork or other suitable slightly elastic or flexible material as a packing.

By this construction the perfect closing of the top is secured, as also a convenient and easy method of opening the same.

I claim as my invention-- As an article of manufacture, the hereindescribed can-top, consisting of the -neck A and cap B, provided with the slotted lug C on one and the projection 12 on the other, so as to be opened or closed, substantially in the manner described.

MERWIN FOWLER. Witnesses:

JOHN IVES, WM. H. PERKINS. 

